Library filed under Legal from Ontario

Mr. Falconer is one of the country’s top constitutional and human rights lawyers. ...Mr. Falconer takes a special interest in holding government to account. On Monday he’ll be taking on windmills. He wants Ontario’s Divisional Court to overturn the regulatory approvals of three projects, the St. Columban Wind and K2 Wind Energy project in Huron County, and the SP Armow Wind project near Kincardine, Ont.

Wind energy may be green, but opponents of a proposed wind farm on the Oak Ridges Moraine worry that five giant turbines will damage the environmentally sensitive area. “There are conflicting values,” said Heather Stauble, a Kawartha Lakes councillor who represents the area where WPD Canada hopes to build its Sumac Ridge wind farm.

Construction of what would be one of Ontario's largest wind farms can continue, despite an ongoing legal attempt by a farm family to scuttle the $850-million project, a Divisional Court justice has ruled.

“If you had been caught speeding on Twenty Road, you wouldn’t get a redo,” said Hudak, speaking on the province’s approval of the amended application. “It only makes sense for the government to follow its own laws.”

A U.S. wind power developer that is seeking $653-million in damages under a NAFTA challenge accuses the government of Ontario of manipulating Green Energy Act rules to benefit the interests of Liberal-connected firms. ...The court filing, recently made public in the case that pits Mesa Power, a Texas-based developer owned by U.S. financier T. Boone Pickens, against the government, alleges Ontario replaced “transparent” criteria for the selection of energy projects with “political favoritism, cronyism and local preference.”

The renewable energy approval puts the burden of proof on the appellants to prove serious harm to health from the project, and the tribunal found they did not prove it to a level of scientific certainty. That's despite testimony from several property owners who say they experience health problems.

In a surprising twist of the plot, the Ontario Court of Appeal granted a stay last week, barring a developer from proceeding with construction of an industrial wind turbine project at Ostrander Point in North Marysburgh. The court went further—seemingly pushing open a wide doorway through which the Prince Edward County Field Naturalists will pursue an appeal to a Divisional Court decision in February that restored the Renewable Energy Approval (REA) permit to a unit of Gilead Power Corporation.

Eric Gillespie, lawyer for the field naturalists, said his client is “expressing some concern” about parts of the ruling and is considering whether to take the divisional court ruling to Ontario Court of Appeal.

Tim Verbeek has grown increasingly frustrated watching two wind turbines be constructed, despite the fact his family business has an appeal concerning the structures before the Environmental Review Tribunal. A decision is expected Monday over the turbines, and Verbeek, whose family owns Platinum Produce greenhouse said it appears a concerted effort was made to get the two turbines erected before the decision is handed down.

The group Manvers Wind Concerns (MWC) and the Cham Shan Buddhist Temple filed the appeal on Dec. 23. Coun. Stauble said when five wind turbines for wpd Canada’s Sumac Ridge project were approved in December, the Province virtually ignored the 2,874 comments from the public opposing the turbines.

The motion, decided by Executive Chair Lynda Tanaka who oversees the ERT, OMB and three other tribunals, temporarily stops the construction of two turbine towers during the appeal of the Ministry of the Environment's approval of the project. The Appellants, Skydive Burnaby Inc. and the company's co-owner Mikel Pitt, argue the turbines are too close to their skydiving school.

Trillium Power Wind Corp. has won an appeal that will allow it to proceed with a $2.25-billion lawsuit against the government of Ontario for imposing what the company alleges was a politically motivated moratorium on offshore wind farm development during the 2011 election.

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